Morrisons launched a price-cuts campaign on the same day that it delivered its first online grocery orders in Warwickshire. The supermarket chain, based in Bradford, had earlier in the week issued a profits warning after a dire Christmas in which underlying sales slumped 5.6%. It is hoping that its move online will deliver much needed growth.

Dalton Philips, the chief executive, personally delivered the first order at 5.30am in a bright yellow Morrisons-liveried van, part of a fleet being run by Ocado, the online grocery specialist that is providing the logistical backbone for the service.

First reviews of the service appeared positive. One of the first shoppers, Heather Lawson, the mother of a correspondent at Retail Week, a trade journal, said her delivery driver was "obliging and friendly", but there were a couple of substitutions, giving her items she did not want. She said she was impressed by the prices but felt some items were "over-packaged". Other commentators have pointed out that the service offers thousands fewer product options than rivals.

Philips said Morrisons' lack of an online service was partly to blame for its poor Christmas, when many more shoppers opted for the convenience of home delivery. But he admitted that at least half the chain's fall in sales was the result of shoppers opting to buy more from discounters such as Aldi and Lidl than at previous Christmases.

Morrisons was clearly attempting to fight back against that tide as it advertised price cuts on basics, including bananas and bread.

Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: "Such a move is significant to our minds as it is the most tangible indication for some time that Morrisons is going to more aggressively and directly take on the hard discounters."